Thai PBS recently reported that Thammasat University engineering student, Benja Apan, a member of the United Front for Thammasat and Demonstration”was sentenced to six months in prison today (Monday) for contempt of the court and for ‘causing disunity’ in the country.”
It adds: “The six-month imprisonment is the heaviest penalty for such offence.”
Clipped from Khaosod
Benja’s charges stemmed from a rally “in front of the Criminal Court on April 29th to demand the release of Parit ‘Penguin’ Chiwarak, a leader of the Ratsadon group, who was being held on multiple charges, including lèse majesté.”
Benja also faces lese majeste charges.
It was alleged that, during the protest, Benja “read a poem over a loud hailer, criticising the court for its handling of Parit’s case…”. Poetry can indeed be dangerous.
It was further alleged that she “breached a barricade.”
The court babbled that, “even though the accused has the right to free expression and to demonstrate peacefully under the Constitution, the exercise of such rights must be within the confines of laws enacted to preserve national security, protect public safety and the rights of other people.”
It is unclear how she breached such provisions.
It is then reported that the court “cited provisions in the Constitution requiring that individuals do not do anything which may cause ‘disunity’ in society and respect, without infringing upon, the rights of other people.”
The Criminal Court is not the Constitutional Court, so this seems curious to us at PPT.
We don’t know for sure, but assume that this refers to Chapter III of the 2017 Constitution where the Rights and Liberties of Thais are set out. We couldn’t see anything on disunity, but did notice that the regime is arguably in breach of almost all of the provisions in that chapter.
As the courts sink ever deeper into the murky depths of unbridled politicization, we can only ponder how difficult it is going to be for any reasonable government to reform military, police, and judiciary, let alone the horrid monarchy.
Political Prisoners in Thailand 
[…] In a post a day or so ago, PPT in discussing another unusual court ruling, we referred to Chapter III of the 2017 Constitution where the Rights and Liberties of Thais are set out. In commenting we noted that ” the regime is arguably in breach of almost all of the provisions in that chapter.” […]